Owen Farrell forecasts 'special' times in an England shirt

Owen Farrell believes England can become a “special team” after his kicking masterclass in their 38-18 win over Scotland set up a potential Six Nations title decider against Ireland on Sunday.

With France suffering a shock 23-18 defeat by Italy in Rome yesterday and Ireland beating Wales 30-22, the list of potential Grand Slam winners has already been trimmed after just one weekend of the Championship.

England were under pressure on Saturday to back up December’s 38-21 win over world champions New Zealand but they responded with a hugely encouraging victory.

Farrell said: “We don’t want that to be a one-off, we want it to happen every week. We believe we’re getting better and better and, hopefully, we’ll keep doing that. If we do, there’s no doubt we can be a special team. We’re not too bothered about expectation . . . we want to set our own standards.”

The Saracens fly-half kicked 18 points against the Scots — he missed just one kick — and is relishing the chance to go head-to-head with Lions rival Jonathan Sexton in Dublin on Sunday.

“He’s an outstanding player,” said Farrell. “His control of games is really good and he does a lot of things other people don’t do.”

Farrell is just 21 and his performance impressed England head coach Stuart Lancaster.

“His goal-kicking is outstanding but he’s developing into a good all-round player now,” said Lancaster. “I have always believed in his ability and temperament and his passing game is outstanding off both hands.”

Captain Chris Robshaw also praised Farrell and was delighted with the victory but warned his players they must significantly improve to avoid a Dublin disaster on Sunday.

Two years ago, Ireland denied England the Grand Slam, winning 24-8, and Robshaw’s own championship title bid could be derailed by an Irish side buoyant from their victory in Cardiff.

On Saturday, England off-loaded 19 times — more than any other team on the opening weekend of the championship — a sign of their attacking prowess. However, Robshaw is keenly aware of that loss from 2011 and said: “We now have a tough trip to Ireland and we have to put things right by next Sunday. People say how tough, ferocious and passionate Dublin will be and we need to produce our best.

“There is room for improvement and we were a little bit loose at times. We wanted to play an off-loading game, mistakes do happen and we will be hard on ourselves.”

The sprained ankle suffered by No8 Ben Morgan is the biggest worry for England, who also have to decide where to use fit-again Manu Tuilagi, the Leicester centre.

Billy Twelvetrees, one of England’s four try scorers, had an impressive debut at inside-centre in Tuilagi’s absence but he is not guaranteed to keep his place on Sunday. England could use Tuilagi on the wing instead of Mike Brown, who made a couple of costly errors. However, the Harlequins full-back made 133 metres in attack — twice as much ground as the next best England player.

Lancaster has much to think about and admitted: “We backed up the New Zealand win but cannot give away the kind of soft points we did against Scotland. We have to be better against Ireland.

“I have a midfield headache after ­Billy’s performance. We are confident Manu will be fit and there is no doubt of the impact the replacements’ bench can make.

“Ben [Morgan] has improved massively as a player and he would be a big loss but James Haskell did really well when he came on.”

If Morgan fails to recover in time, Lancaster looks certain to give Haskell a start at No6, with Tom Wood moving to No8 alongside Robshaw. The next best ball carrier in the Morgan mould is Billy Vunipola but he has been injured, opening the way for Thomas Waldrom to join the match squad.

Ireland coach Declan Kidney has delayed naming his side until Friday — when England will reveal their team — to give his battered squad time to recover from their victory over Wales.

Captain Jamie Heaslip has a cut leg and centre Gordon D’Arcy a dead leg, while man-of-the-match Brian O’Driscoll had several stitches inserted into a head wound and prop Mike Ross finished the Millennium Stadium clash with severe cramp.

A precautionary scan revealed no damage to full-back Rob Kearney’s back but substitute centre Keith Earls will see a specialist later this week to assess a shoulder problem.